(BPT) - If you've dreamed of going to the iconic Food & Wine Classic in Aspen — the nation's premiere culinary festival — you can do the next best thing: explore recipes demonstrated by chefs during the weekend, and learn about some of the tools and techniques they use to achieve restaurant-worthy culinary results.
The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is a much-anticipated annual three-day celebration highlighting premier epicurean adventures, complete with a variety of cooking demonstrations, wine and spirit tastings and lively panel discussions and seminars led by renowned world-class chefs and beverage experts. It's also an opportunity to rub shoulders with famed celebrity chefs and to learn about noteworthy tastes and trends.
This year's event also showcased award-winning, luxury appliances from partner SKS (formerly known as Signature Kitchen Suite) to help home chefs up their culinary game while staying true to the essence of every dish whether through sous vide, induction or smart connectivity.
Highlights from this year's Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
A primary theme from the 2025 event was to celebrate innovators and "game changers" who are shaping the world of food today. Wide-ranging seminars and cooking demonstrations hosted by renowned international sommeliers and chefs featured topics ranging from the latest in viticulture and winemaking, adventurous food and wine (and beer!) pairings to creative cultural fusion (like Mex-Italian), reimagining breakfast menus and much more.
Featured chefs offer recipes to try at home
Among the dozens of cooking demos offered that weekend, best-selling cookbook author and renowned food personality Mark Bittman partnered with SKS Executive Chef Nick Ritchie for a demonstration called: "Mark Bittman's in Hot Water — Turning Up the Heat on Sous Vide, Steam and Searing" to highlight the latest techniques for home kitchens.
This demo included the sous vide technique, which involves vacuum sealing food in a pouch, then submerging it in water to cook slowly at a constant, precise temperature for highly consistent results. The sous vide technique is now accessible at home via the 48-inch Dual-Fuel Pro Range from SKS — an industry-first innovation combining gas, induction and built-in sous vide on a single cooktop, plus steam and convection ovens for versatility and precision across cooking styles.
"Sous vide has long been a staple in professional kitchens, and bringing that level of precision into the home is a natural next step for high-end appliances," said Bittman. "These techniques are versatile and accessible, giving home chefs the tools to achieve restaurant-quality results while staying true to the essence of good food."
Bittman and Ritchie demonstrated the latest techniques as they prepared recipes for caraway rye bread and sous vide egg jam.
Mark's Caraway Rye
Recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman
Servings: Yields 2 loaves
Ingredients
Night
70 grams rye flour; 70 grams water; 20 grams starter.
Mix and rest.
Morning
250 grams rye flour; 200 grams water.
Mix into preferment (flour, water and starter mixture) and rest until risen and bubbly, 4 or 5 hours.
Afternoon
300 grams water; 475 grams bread flour, more or less; 15 grams salt; 5 grams instant yeast; 30 grams caraway.
Instructions
1. Stir water into dough; add everything else. Mix with the dough hook on low speed, adding bread flour if needed, until dough pulls away from sides, 7-10 minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, for about an hour.
2. Divide in half and knead a minute by hand, shape into loaves. Put on a cornmeal-sprinkled peel or parchment-lined sheet and cover.
3. Preheat oven with steam to 430 degrees F.
4. When dough has risen a bit (there'll be little cracks on the surface), brush with water, slash a few times, sprinkle with caraway seeds and coarse salt.
5. Put in oven, either on a stone or on the parchment-lined tray. Bake 10 minutes, remove steam, lower heat to 375, bake another 30 to 40 minutes, until done.
Sous Vide Egg Yolk Jam
Recipe courtesy of SKS Executive Chef Nick Ritchie
Servings: Makes 1- to 4-ounce jar
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (optional)
- kosher salt (to taste)
- teaspoon freshy ground black pepper (to taste)
- dash Tabasco sauce (optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat sous vide well to 147 degrees F.
2. Mix the egg yolks with the olive oil and seasoning and strain.
3. Pour mixture into a 4-ounce canning jar. Seal with the lid and cook in the sous vide well for approximately 1 hour. Allow it to rest at room temperature for a few minutes. It can be served warm or chilled.
Chef's note: This can be made simply with salt and pepper, but I like the addition of a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and a dash of Tabasco sauce, especially when using it as a spread for bread or toast.
Inspired to start cooking? Find these recipes and more here, and discover all the possibilities for upgrading your kitchen at SKSAppliances.com.
